Schakowsky was born Janice Danoff in 1944, in the city of Chicago, the daughter of Tillie (née Cosnow) and Irwin Danoff.[1] Her parents were Jewish immigrants, her father from Lithuania and her mother from Russia.[1][2] She graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in elementary education where she was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon (social) sorority.[3] She was Program Director of Illinois Public Action, Illinois' largest public interest group, from 1976 to 1985. She then moved to the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens as executive director for five years until 1990, when she was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, and subsequently the United States House of Representatives in 1999. She has served there for five terms.

Schakowsky is by some accounts the most[4]Progressive member of the current US Congress. She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She frequently gains ratings of between 90 and 100 from liberal and progressive interest groups and lower ratings from conservative groups.

In April 2009 Schakowsky pointedly criticized the tax day Tea Party protests, asserting that they were "an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs." Schakowsky added, "It's despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt."[5]

In Feb 2013, Schakowsky indicated her support for banning assault weapons as only a beginning step towards more gun control measures including a ban on handguns.[6]

Schakowsky has been outspoken in her opposition to the Iraq War. She was one of the earliest and most emphatic supporters of U.S. Senator Barack Obama prior to his victory in the 2004 Illinois Democratic primary election, and actively supported his bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.[10]

In hearings held by the House Energy and Commerce Subcomittee in July 2006, Schakowsky expressed concern that a report from the National Academy of Sciences showing discrepancies among scientists studying global warming might be "used in a way to discredit the whole notion that our country and the rest of the industrialized and developing world ought to do anything about global warming".[11]

Schakowsky indicated interest in replacing Barack Obama in the United States Senate.[12] Before his arrest, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had reportedly been considering Schakowsky among at least six candidates to fill the vacancy. Schakowsky was one of the first figures in Illinois to voice interest in running in a special election to replace Obama.[13]

In August 2013 Schakowsky expressed support for increasing wages for fast food employees stating that increased wages would lead to "millions of new jobs" because of their increased spending ability.[citation needed]

In February 2014, Schakowsky (along with 17 other House members) signed a letter addressed to President Obama supporting the removal of marijuana from the DEA Controlled Substances Schedule.[18]

In March 2014, Schakowsky (along with 26 other House members) signed a letter addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to reject the Keystone XL pipeline application, arguing that it would lead to disastrous climate change.[19]

In March 2015, she planned to boycott the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to congress. She said she above all opposed the speech, because it could scuttle delicate negotiations with Iran, writing: "The prime minister wants the negotiations to end, and his purpose in speaking to the Congress is to convince us that the president is about to agree to a deal that threatens Israel's existence. He believes the president is naïve in thinking that he and the P5+1 can achieve any agreement that will stop Iran from rushing toward a bomb... What is the alternative to an agreement? Yes, the United States will increase sanctions. But does anyone doubt that Iran will build a nuclear weapon regardless of sanctions? Then the choices will be ugly: accepting a nuclear-weaponized Iran or accepting military action (i.e., war with Iran). For me it's obvious that we must give the negotiations a chance. And, in the meantime, Iran has essentially halted its weapons program under the Joint Plan of Action while the talks are ongoing.[20]

Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post, criticized Schakowsky's boycott of the Israeli Prime Minister, writing: "Radical leftist representatives who happen to be Jewish, like Jan Schakowsky of suburban Chicago and Steve Cohen of Memphis, are joining Netanyahu’s boycotters in order to give the patina of Jewish legitimacy to an administration whose central foreign policy threatens the viability of the Jewish state."[21]

Sidney Yates, who had represented the 9th District since 1949 (except for an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 1962), had announced in 1996 that he wouldn't run for re-election in 1998. Schakowsky easily won the Democratic primary, which all but assured her of election in the heavily Democratic 9th. She won in November with 75 percent of the vote and has easily won reelection four times with 70 percent or more of the vote. She is only the third person to represent the district since 1949.

On March 11, 2004, Schakowsky's husband, lobbyist Robert Creamer, the executive director of the Illinois Public Action Fund, was indicted in federal court on 16 counts of bank fraud involving three alleged check-kiting schemes in the mid-1990s, leading several banks to experience shortfalls of at least $2.3 million.[23] In August 2005, Creamer pleaded guilty to one count of failure to collect withholding tax, and bank fraud for writing checks with insufficient funds. All of the money was repaid. Schakowsky was not accused of any wrongdoing.[24] Schakowsky served on the organization's board during the time the crimes occurred,[25] and Schakowsky signed the IRS filings along with her husband.[26] U.S. District Judge James B. Moran noted no one suffered "out of pocket losses," and Creamer acted not out of greed but in an effort to keep his community action group going without cutting programs, though Creamer paid his own $100,000 salary with fraudulently obtained funds.[27] On April 5, 2006, Creamer was sentenced to five months in prison and 11 months of house arrest.[28] Creamer served his five-month incarceration at the Federal Correction Institute in Terre Haute, Indiana and was released on November 3, 2006.[29]